Striking a balance between the urgent need for economic recovery and the demand for greener and more sustainable growth in the post-COVID era is both an objective and a pressing requirement for development of all nations. 

Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh 

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh stressed the point while addressing the 2021 P4G Seoul Summit on Monday evening. 

He said the world is now witnessing the compounding effects at an unprecedented scale and scope arising from three major catastrophes, namely the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and natural resources depletion, not to mention the ageing population in many countries. These challenges have left dire and multidimensional consequences, not only for today but also for our future generations.

However, the pandemic, and those challenges and hardships have shown us more clearly the importance of environmental protection and harmony between human and nature, and created a momentum to push our advancement and capability.

"More than ever before, we must be of one mind and join hands to strike a balance between the urgent need for economic recovery and the demand for greener and more sustainable growth in the post-COVID era. This is both an objective and a pressing requirement for development of all nations", Pham stressed.

From that perspective, Pham suggested that green recovery, green economy and circular economy must be vigorously pursued at the national, regional and global levels, under the general framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. 

Green transition requires a suitable roadmap and it is critical to take into account different conditions and capabilities of countries, said PM Pham, adding that developed countries should continue to take the lead in realizing their emission reduction commitments. 

He expressed his belief that it is imperative to develop institutions to encourage the support and engagement of all stakeholders, particularly the business community and the people. It is indeed crucial to promote public-private partnership (PPP) projects for green growth and establish new value chains and sectors through “greening” industrial and agricultural production, and services.

The Vietnamese PM said preventing and curbing the COVID-19 pandemic successfully are most urgent for growth to bounce back, thus efforts of each country are of paramount importance, but effective international cooperation is indispensable.

Such collaboration spans from empathy for the emotional and material loss of others, sharing of technology, financial and medical resources, especially vaccines, facilitation of international trade and investment, to cooperation in enabling transportation and movement of people and goods between countries, and avoiding disruption of global supply chain.

He was convinced that, alongside the outcomes of the Leaders' Summit on Climate Change on 22 April and the upcoming COP 26 in November, the P4G Summit today will go down in history as a convergence of understanding, shared responsibilities and commitments to actions./.